HR Florida Announces 2012 Professional of the Year

Written by Betty Jackson, SPHR, Director of Public Relations

In the presence of over 1500 HR leaders at the 2012 State Conference, our award sponsor, Allan Weitzman (partner with Proskauer Rose LLP) presented the HR Florida Professional of the Year Award to Eric Scott Bowers, SPHR. This annual award recognizes a human resource leader who has advanced the profession in a significant way. The individuals nominated for this award serve as role models for the profession, setting the standard for others to follow, and applying their expertise to enhance organizational effectiveness.

Scott is a Senior Professional in Human Resources and earned his Masters of Arts in 2001 from Ball State University in Executive Development. Scott is Chairman of the Lake Sumter SHRM Certification & College Relations Committee and directs and provides the education for the Lake Sumter SHRM Certification Study sessions at Lake Sumter Community College.

Scott is Vice President of Human Resources for Lassiter- Ware Insurance and is considered the HR expert for companies that do business with Lassiter-Ware. He is a very accomplished speaker and has a variety of topics on which he speaks to companies such as Sexual Harassment, Diversity, Team Building, FMLA, Wrongful Termination, Workers Compensation, and Management Training that includes Interviewing, Discipline, Coaching and Counseling, and Union Avoidance.

Ted Ostrander, CIC, AAI, President of Lassiter-Ware said, “Scott has been an invaluable addition to our organization by meeting with many of our clients that do not have HR professionals and working with them to establish employee manuals, training, and answering myriad of questions concerning HR issues that come up. Many employers have reduced staff over the past four years, and Scott has spent a tremendous amount of time with many of these employers helping them go through this process in a professional and dignified manner. He has even advised several of our clients in regards to EEOC complaints that have been brought against them. In one case, he literally spent a week with a large employer who had lost several people in their HR department and were not sure how to handle payroll for the employees. He worked with the remaining staff to set up the programs to allow them to properly handle overtime, PTO, and all related payroll issues.”

Kelly Marcoux, PHR said, “Scott Bowers, SPHR has served Lake Sumter SHRM as certification chair since 2009. Prior to serving as certification chair, Scott served Lake-Sumter SHRM in the capacity of Workforce Readiness Chair and was very active in the support of Junior Achievers of Lake and Sumter Counties. Scott also sits on the Lake Sumter Community College Business Administration Advisory Committee. As a result of this close relationship with Lake Sumter Community College, Scott has been able to influence the college whose curriculum had not held HR course study. The College has now added Human Relations in Business and Industry to their base requirements of the AA and AS business programs.

The HR Florida State Council is proud to honor Scott Bowers with the HR Florida Professional of the Year award for 2012.